INSTRUMENTS The first chapter

Four software instruments. Two clear series.

Substance and MADRE-8 form the foundation series: one direct voice in mono and polyphonic form. Quartet and Ladder move into specialist oscillator, filter and modulation architectures.

Instrument panelSubstance

WORKING SOFTWARE INSTRUMENT · CLAP

Substance

An original monophonic bass and lead software instrument.

Substance began as the classic partner to a drum machine: one focused voice built for weight, movement and glide. Two oscillators, a sub-oscillator and noise drive a four-pole transistor ladder through a saturating mixer. The filter offers low-pass, band-pass and high-pass shapes at two slopes, with resonance compensation that helps a bass keep its body.

Musical role: Deep basses, driven sequences, percussive plucks and expressive monophonic leads
What makes it distinct: Biased mixer drive, a pole-mixed transistor ladder, bass-preserving resonance and an output stage that keeps the drive range useful
How it plays: Eight-note memory, last-note priority, legato fallback, constant-rate glide, accent, velocity and aftertouch

See the behaviour behind Substance

Interface studyMADRE-8

DESIGN STUDY · ENGINE NOT BUILT

MADRE-8

An eight-voice software instrument design that expands Substance.

MADRE-8 starts with one simple question: what if Substance could play chords? The current interface study keeps the familiar two-oscillator signal path, sub and noise sources, input drive and ladder character, then expands it into an expressive eight-voice instrument.

Design intent: Warm pads, large chords, flexible unison and expressive performance without turning the direct workflow into a modulation maze
Voice design: Eight voices, two oscillators per voice, ladder character, drive, drift, stereo spread and flexible unison
Performance: Poly, mono and legato modes, velocity, aftertouch, arpeggiation, microtuning and a focused effects section

Instrument panelQuartet

WORKING ENGINE + EDITOR · CALIBRATION OPEN

Quartet

An eight-voice analogue software synthesizer.

Quartet is modelled on the Oberheim SEM voice card. Each voice carries two oscillators, a two-pole OTA state-variable filter with continuous mode control, two resistor-capacitor envelopes, an LFO and sample-and-hold. Around them sits a deterministic polyphonic engine with allocation, stealing, unison and glide.

Musical role: Bright saw and pulse movement, hard-sync textures, continuous filter sweeps and repeatable polyphonic width
What makes it distinct: A complete circuit per voice, continuous low-pass to notch to high-pass filtering, separate band-pass and no structural bass loss as resonance rises
What polyphony adds: Independent voice character, bounded drift, stable allocation, voice stealing, unison and repeatable recall

See the evidence behind Quartet

Interface studyLadder

DESIGN STUDY · ENGINE NOT BUILT

Ladder

A filter-focused software instrument design with Poly-Mod routing.

Ladder brings a four-pole SSM2040-class filter, oscillator cross-modulation and a tightly coupled Poly-Mod routing strip to the shared polyphonic foundation. Its circuit architecture and control surface are defined; the audio engine has not yet been built.

Design intent: Filter-led chords, cross-modulated tones and animated patches shaped by a small number of tightly connected controls
What it explores: A four-pole SSM2040-class filter, oscillator cross-modulation, filter modulation and a feedback-capable mixer
Family role: The shared eight-voice platform remains, while the filter and modulation architecture change around it

01 Beyond the first four

A family built by circuit.

Future instruments will extend the same foundation through different oscillator systems, filter topologies, modulation structures and ways of playing. The family grows through meaningful circuit differences, not cosmetic variation.